Profile
Anthony van der Ley (53) worked at Westfalia until 2007. He then worked for Kverneland and Kuhn. Since 2012, he has been CEO of the German machinery manufacturer Lemken. In June of this year, he succeeded Richard Markwell of AGCO as President of CEMA.
tractors, machinery and management systems to communicate and share information with one another: the Dutch are happy to use it, and Dutch farmers would love to have yet another GPS sys- tem available. In Germany, on the other hand, the system has hardly been sold. German farmers simply want to be able to put their foot on the gas, so to speak.”
Why is it necessary to get everyone on the same page? “We need to be able to present a united face to EU politicians in order to convey to them what is important for our sector. That is one of the areas that I want to devote my attention to: fostering understanding in Brussels regarding the issues that matter to us as machinery manufacturers. If would be fantastic if we could say by the end of my term as president that machinery manufacturers are being taken seriously by EU legislators. I hope to have achieved that by that time.”
Why do you believe the interest of CEMA to be so important? “Fostering awareness in Brussels is important because many things depend on the agriculture sector. We simply cannot allow anything to have a negative impact on food production. A good foundation with sustainable and efficient food production is im- portant, but it is only possible if EU legislation and regulations are geared to achieving it. CEMA provides points of reference for drafting legislation that is attuned to agricultural technology. EU politicians need to understand that not everything in the legisla- tion on passenger vehicles can be applied directly to agricultural vehicles. My predecessor Richard Markwell made it clear that an ABS braking system should not be automatically mandatory. He successfully lobbied to prevent tractors unable to travel faster than 60 km per hour from being required to have an ABS system.”
What needs to be achieved by EU legislation as far as digi- talisation and data in agriculture are concerned? “EU funding is necessary in order to develop a 5G network. What’s more, an important issue at play amidst increasing digitalisation is who owns all of that data. Clear rules of play need to be defined. CEMA was one of the pioneers of an initiative whose aim was to make it clear that farmers are and must remain the owners of their own data, and also have control over it. Farmers derive their right to exist from that data.”
What do you mean when you say that farmers derive their right to exist from data? “I read somewhere recently that a company such as Google could have so much agricultural data at its disposal, originating from sensors, for example, that a company with that amount of infor- mation available could farm more effectively than 70% of current farmers. We must prevent that from happening. Farmers must re- main the owners of their own data before others start using it and farmers lose their right to exist. I believe it is unethical to take possession of farmers’ data. I don’t think farmers know exactly what the implications are of digitalisation of agriculture. That’s a real shame, I think, because it is in fact so important.”
You said that you want European politicians to have begun taking the agricultural mechanisation sector seriously by the end of your term as president. How do you intend to achieve that? “I will fulfil what I said I will do. That’s a promise I can make. I want to bring people together, initiate dialogues and reach a higher level together. The EU political system is complex and a great deal of lobbying is necessary in Brussels. But you can achieve a great deal with the right people.”
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PHOTO: HANS PRINSEN
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